Supervision of prison licences

Offenders receiving a custodial sentence of more than one day and less than two years will receive a period of 12 months supervision within the community. This process is either a licence or a post sentence supervision period.

Offenders released from prison are supervised by either ourselves or the National Probation Service, depending on the severity of risk that they pose. We supervise people who are considered to pose a low or medium risk of committing a serious crime.

The Through the Gate initiative covers all people being released from prison and prepares them for release in a more supported way.

There are a range of standard prison licence and post sentence supervision conditions, which include individuals having to:

live at a specified address or an Approved Premises (historically called a bail hostel)

comply with an order which prevents them from travelling outside the UK

Additional licence requirements can be added, which then must be agreed by either the prison governor or the Parole Board. These will take a victim’s considerations into account, and may also include: